Thanks to "Proud to Be Latina" for inviting me to contribute to their annual empowerment conference as a leadership and career coach! It was an amazing and inspiring event!

Your Leadership Journey: Life Lessons in Leadership Coaching

Todd Cherches; Carol Shear (ICF-CT president); Steve Cherches

We all know that our life experiences shape us as individuals. Yet, how often do we make the time and take the time to reflect back on those experiences to gain a better understanding of who we are and how we are as leaders...and as coaches?

In this fun, fast-paced, and highly-interactive workshop, we led the Connecticut chapter of the International Coach Federation (ICF) on a journey of exploration from the past to the present...and into the future.

Among the key themes covered in this 90-minute workshop:

* Exploring the metaphor of the Leadership Journey;

* Discovering who we are as leaders based on how the life stories from our past shape our present; 

* Envisioning how we can apply the journey metaphor and our own life lessons in a coaching context. 

BigBlueGumball presented at the monthly chapter meeting of the International Coach Federation (ICF) in Connecticut on January 25th on the Power of Visual Thinking to explore how visual thinking and visual communication can be leveraged as a coaching tool. Sincere thanks to ICF-CT for hosting such a terrific event...and for welcoming us New Yorkers up to Norwalk!

Todd & Steve were proud to be the guest speakers at the May 2012 meeting of the NYC chapter of the ICF (International Coach Federation).

Held at the NYU midtown campus on W. 42^nd St., our presentation, entitled, “The Power of Visual Thinking: An Innovative Approach to More Effective Presenting & Coaching” was attended by a high-energy and highly-engaged group of approximately 50 members of the local coaching community.

We presented our, “Ten Top Tips for Designing & Delivering More Effective Presentations: A Wild 30-Minute Roller Coaster Ride,” followed by an interactive exploration of how to leverage the power of visual thinking and visual communication in a coaching context.

Among the various topics discussed were: what visual thinking is all about; napkin sketching; the use of visual language, metaphor, and storytelling; and how to create your own Visual Coaching Toolkit.

As promised, following are the answers to the top three questions we were asked:

[1] Can you post a copy of your “10 Top Tips”?

[2] Where can we find visual images to use in powerpoint presentations?

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/ 

www.iStockphoto.com

http://www.photoxpress.com/

http://www.sxc.hu

http://www.everystockphoto.com/ 

http://compfight.com/ 

http://presentationzen.blogs.com/presentationzen/2006/01/where_can_you_f.html

http://www.rethinkpresentations.com/presentation-images/

[3] Can you post a copy of your presentation skills book recommendation list?    

The List:

1.  The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs – by Carmine Gallo

2.  Slideology – by Nancy Duarte 3.Resonate – by Nancy Duarte

4.  Presentation Zen – by Garr Reynolds

5.  The Naked Presenter – by Garr Reynolds

6.  Presenting to Win – by Jerry Weissman

7.  The Exceptional Presenter – by Timothy J. Koegel

8.  Beyond Bulletpoints – by Cliff Atkinson

9.  Power, Influence & Persuastion – by Harvard Business Essentials

10.  The Confident Speaker – by Monarth & Kase

11.  The Story Factor – by Anette Simmons

12.  How to Develop Self-Confidence & Influence – by Dale Carnegie

13.  The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking – by Dale Carnegie

14.  10 Days to More Confident Public Speaking – by Princeton Language

15.  Present Like a Pro – by Maxie & O’Connor 

For further questions, please contact us any time.  We look forward to hearing from you.

It was a Sunday afternoon in May of last year and I was reading the Business section of the New York Times when I came upon the Corner Office column wherein they interview a top business leader each week on their leadership insights.

Well long story, short, I was so inspired by that week's interview with Linda Lausell Bryant, the executive director of Inwood House -- a NYC-based organization that "Helps Teens Take Charge of Their Lives"-- that I did something I had never done before:

I sent her an email out of the blue saying, "How can we help!?"

As it turns out not only is Inwood House an amazing NYC-based organization, but they are our neighbors... located right here on the Upper East Side, less than a 5-minute walk from BigBlueGumball's home office!

So I am proud to say that over the past ten months we have had the pleasure of working with Linda and her brilliant and incredible team (some of the smartest, nicest, and most dedicated people we've ever had the pleasure of working with!), to help their staff develop their skills in the areas of management, leadership, communication, and innovation.

In addition to the pure satisfaction we receive from making a contribution to this amazing organization that is, literally, saving the lives of New York City teens, the following words of appreciation from Linda was, perhaps, the greatest gift of all:

"Meeting you and having the benefit of your brilliance and commitment to us is indeed one of the biggest blessings that came out of the New York Times article. In every interaction we have with you, we come away having learned something and ready to apply something. Thank you for your priceless partnership with us. We are thrilled to be your friends, your fans and your students!"

Humbled by these incredibly kind remarks, we would like to say thank you to Linda for what you do, for how you do it, and -- most of all -- for who you are.

We truly love working with you and your team, and thank you for this opportunity to make a difference, and to share in this wonderful partnership.